KUALA LUMPUR: M Manogaran will return as DAP's candidate for the Cameron Highlands’s parliamentary by-election slated to take place Jan 26.
In making the announcement after chairing the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Presidential Council meeting today, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad expressed confidence of PH’s victory.
“We have decided who will be contesting for Cameron Highlands. It will M. Manogaran. The previous candidate in the 14th General Election (GE14).
“I am confident that we will win. God-willing,” Dr Mahathir told a media conference today.
Manogaran contested against Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Datuk C. Sivarraajh in May last year, in a five-cornered battle.
Sivarraajh won with a slim majority of 597 votes.
However, the Election Court nullified the result due to evidence of bribery, paving way for a by-election.
“We don’t know who we will be contesting against. We believe we will be able to overcome the odds and win," Dr Mahathir said.
Manogaran was also present at the media conference today.
As of now, BN has yet to announce its candidate for the seat.
While it was rumoured earlier that Sivarraajh would defend the seat for MIC, the Election Commission (EC) announced that he was barred from becoming a candidate or a voter in any election for the next five years.
The decision was made after a careful study of the ruling made by the Election Court on Nov 30, according to EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun.
Nomination for the Cameron Highlands by-election has been fixed on Jan 12.
On a separate matter, Dr Mahathir, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairman, denied that there was any discussion on Bersatu vice-president Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman following the latter's call for party division leaders to be awarded government contracts.
Dr Mahathir said Rashid’s call was not part of the party’s policy.
“That’s not our policy, that’s just his opinion,” he said, while confirming Rashid’s position as the EC's electoral reforms chief was also not discussed.
Others present at the media conference today were PH president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) president Mohamad Sabu.
Profile of M. Manogaran
Born: July 14, 1959
Age: 59
Place of Birth: Penang
Party: DAP
Profession: Lawyer
Previous elected office: Teluk Intan MP